December 22, 2012

Dahntay Jones knew how Fisher felt

SAN ANTONIO -- Dallas Mavericks guard Dahntay Jones said he recently had a talk with Derek Fisher and discovered how much the 17-year veteran guard was missing his family.

But little did Jones know that Fisher would ask the Mavs to release him from his contract, which they did on Saturday.

“I knew how he felt about the situation, because we spoke about it, but I didn’t know the severity of the events,'' Jones told the Star-Telegram. "However, this situation did come out of the blue.’’

Fisher signed a one-year, $1.11 million contract with the Mavs on Nov. 29 and was brought him to stabilize the point guard spot. But that position is once again in disarray now that Fisher is out of the equation.

"It forces us to move on and just make due with what we have,'' Jones said. "Guys have to speed up the learning process and the learning curve, and just get ready to take on the burden of being a full-time point guard.''

Jones said the Mavs will truly miss Fisher and the experience and knowledge he brought to the table.

"He's a great leader, he's well respected, he's a great basketball mind and he played extremely hard,'' Jones said. "It was a pleasure to be able to play with him.''